The Guardian
by Lady Light
Summary: It was supposedly a normal dream. Then why is Mai hearing voices and seeing a living friend seeking help in her dreams? What is it that only Mai can do and the others can't? Mai must solve this case on her own while working on a different case with SPR.
1. Just Another Day?

Disclaimer: All _Ghost Hunt_/_Akuryou_ characters belong to Ono Fuyumi.

Chapter 1: Just Another Day?

The last month of the school year could be summarized into one word. Exams. Students listened raptly to their professors and focused on taking notes. The professor of one class signified the end of her lecture and students filed out to head to their respective places to study. The students studied hard for their own sake and also to keep from disappointing their parents who wished for their children to stay in school.

This was no exception for 21-year old Taniyama Mai who had lost her parents many years before. However, while most of the students headed to libraries or home to study, Mai packed her notebook and writing utensils in a tote bag and rushed towards her part-time job. Her boss would not be pleased if she showed up late, even after her many years of part-time employment.

Her boss, despite being a year older than her, was not a man to be kept waiting, unless one wished to be insulted among other things. His sophisticated, mysterious, and not to mention, handsome appearance drew the attention of many. Indeed, Shibuya Kazuya, as Mai knew him by, had charisma, and performed everything with perfection.

Mai, slightly breathless from her brisk walk from campus, approached the door with the letters _S.P.R._ on it. Behind those doors laid the Shibuya Psychic Research office, where she worked everyday as one of the two assistants of Kazuya. Her boss was the ghost hunter, who denied having any psychic powers, and the other assistant, Lin was a form of onmyouji. The members of the office had discovered that Mai possessed ESP after she dreamed post-cognitive facts on her second case. She could also sometimes see ghosts and later discovered she could move solid objects through her dream states.

Mai opened the door and a sharp, cold voice barked out, "Mai! Tea!"

"I know, I know, good afternoon to you too Naru," Mai sighed as she made her way to her designated desk and pass a cold but attractive man decked in all black. When Mai had first met her boss, she had nicknamed him "Naru" short for "Narcissistic Naru" due to his overwhelming sense of pride and self-conceit. And that was how charismatic Shibuya Kazuya came to be known as Naru to those who worked with him his current office. Naru was currently sitting on a leather couch, reviewing what appeared to be a case file.

Mai made her way to the kitchen area to prepare tea for her boss, tilting backwards a bit to see if the other assistant was in his office. Not seeing the person she was looking for, Mai assumed the man was out gather information as she finished preparing the tea. Mai placed the teacup and saucer in front of her silent boss, wondering why he was not working in his own office.

"Those papers on your desk won't organize themselves," Naru said coolly, not once looking up. Mai let out a small huff and proceeded to her desk, itching to ask him what was wrong.

"Naru, why are you out here? There's nobody coming in today, is there?" Mai asked curiously.

"Can't you work silently for more than one minute? As I expected, you forgot that there was an appointment today with Mr. Higurashi. How are you passing school if you lack a brain?" Naru flipped over another page in file he was reading.

Mai stuck her tongue out at him and looked at the calendar, making another face when she realized he had been right. Even though she was used to five years of his insults and teasing, she still responds to them.

"That's not very lady-like. Apparently, you also lack manners," Naru finally placed down his file and took a sip of his tea.

"Manners? This is coming from the number one narcissist!" Mai exclaimed.

"A narcissist does not necessarily lack manners," Naru retorted as he gracefully placed his teacup and saucer back on the coffee table.

"If only Madoka-san were here," Mai grumbled under breath which did not go unheard as she had hoped. Mori Madoka was the woman who claimed to have gotten Naru interested in ghost hunting and the only person Mai had seen scold Naru like a child besides Lin, which was rare. Fortunately for her, Naru decided he had wasted enough time arguing with her and opted to silently glare at her. It worked. Mai quickly shut her mouth and busied herself with the papers on her desk. Usually arguments led to someone feeling bad, but Naru liked his little verbal exchanges with Mai; they were a means, like tea, to help him relax.

The rest of the hour passed by quietly as Mai was hoping to finish the pile of work before their client showed up. The only interruption was when Lin, the older Chinese man working as an assistant walked in. There was silent exchange of nods whereas Mai voiced a quick greeting and prepared some tea for her boss and her tall co-worker.

Mai finished organizing and filing the documents and clippings efficiently and a bit faster than usual. The brunette leaned back in her chair and stretched, quickly pulling down her skirt to keep it from rising up. At quick look at the couch told her that during the time she had been working, her boss had gotten up and entered his own office. She reached over to the corner of her desk and grabbed the day's newspaper, glancing for anything that might pertain to the supernatural.

Nothing in particular caught her eye; all the deaths that had been reported were justified by motives, nothing out of the ordinary. There was still half an hour before the scheduled appointment and Mai was feeling drowsy with the sunlight warming her backside. As she slowly drifted off, a random gossip she heard from school passed through her mind. Right before Mai fell asleep, she thought she heard a voice cry out softly, "_Help me please…"_

_To be continued…_

Lady Light

Reviews would be appreciated.


	2. Matched and Marked

Disclaimer: All _Ghost Hunt_/_Akuryou_ characters belong to Ono Fuyumi.

Chapter 2: Matched and Marked

Mai was standing in pitch black darkness with a cylinder of light around her.

_Oh, it's another one of these dreams. Naru might show up!_ Mai blushed at the thought of the smiling man in her dreams. She waited for half a minute in the eerily silence of the dream dimension._ Wait! What case are we working on?_ Mai frowned and fear slowly crept into her. Naru would have made his appearance by now and to her knowledge SPR did not have a current case.

A movement in her upper peripheral vision caught her attention. Mai tilted her head up and watched, mesmerized as a white feather floated gracefully towards her. In the darkness, it emitted a soft indigo glow. Full of curiosity and awe, Mai reached out for the object without thinking, fear of the dark and unknown temporarily forgotten. As her finger made contact with the feather, Mai was engulfed in warm white light.

"_Taniyama Mai, you're my only hope. Help me please…"_

"_Please…"_

"_Mai…"_

"Mai!"

Mai shot up, startled, and quickly shoved herself backwards when she found herself face to face with the cross expression of her not-so-happy boss.

"Naru! Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Mai protested as she straightened herself out.

"Maybe a shock could keep you awake longer. You were sleeping on the job again and this time there isn't a case you can dream about," Naru scowled. "Hurry up and prepare some tea, our client is about to arrive." He then proceeded to return to his office. If he had waited just a bit longer, he would have noticed the slightly dazed expression on Mai's face.

'_The dream…_' Mai quickly looked at her hands and clothes to see if the feather from her dream was anywhere. Mai breathed out in relief, not realizing she had been holding her breath. She got up and headed to brew some more tea, her mind somewhere else. '_So it was just a normal dream. No case, no Naru_'. At the thought of her dream guide, Mai let out a small frown before shaking her head. She put away the box of English breakfast teabags that Naru was so fond of before preparing some green tea for their client.

'_Maybe it has something pertaining to the next case we're about to receive? It certainly was a weird 'normal' dream. But the feather was so pretty, so pure and innocent….'_ Mai yelped in pain, startled out of her thoughts when the hot water poured onto her fingers instead of into the teacup.

Dream forgotten, Mai ran her fingers under cold water while quickly mopping up the spill with a cloth in her right hand.

"Taniyama-san?" Lin inquired, standing by the kitchen doorway. Mai saw that Naru was by standing by his office doorway.

"I'm fine. I missed the cup. No big deal, ehehehe," Mai laughed nervously to show that she was fine, to a certain degree.

"Haven't you already learned how to pour hot water in a tea cup? Do yourself a favor and rid yourself of your stupidity. You're lucky our client is running a little late." Naru returned to his office as did Lin after seeing that Mai had taken care of the spill.

Mai sighed dejectedly and lifted her left hand up to inspect her fingers. The fleshy pads were red from the running cold water and Mai smiled in relief, knowing that the burn had not been serious at all. After all, the water was just really warm, not boiling.

Mai turned her hand over and that was when she noticed it. Her breath hitched in her throat as she stared in disbelief at the tip of her index finger. A feather design in white marked the nail of the finger that had made contact with the mystifying object in her dreams.

'_What in the world is going on?'_

…To be continued.

Reviews would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

-Lady Light


	3. Hot and Cold

Disclaimer: All _Ghost Hunt_/_Akuryou_ characters belong to Ono Fuyumi.

Author's Note: I'm trying to refrain from leaking spoilers, so I'm sorry if some of the content is inconsistent or unexplained. It's really hard keeping this just to the anime with thoughts from the novel swarming my head. Apologies ahead of time for the change in writing style, my mind just need to focus slaps cheeks.

Chapter 3: Hot and Cold

"Please, the police have given up on this case. I feel that he's still around but my instincts tell me that my brother is dead. I haven't heard from him and the police couldn't track him down; I fear for the worst. I won't be able to be at peace until his body is found. You're psychic researchers; can't you find his body?" The current client of SPR looked at the young boss in front of him, eyes pleading.

"Mr. Higurashi, we are psychic researchers, but this is something more suitable for the police," Naru explained with his normal emotionless face.

"But he was my older twin! He visits the dreams of a relative of mine, but all she tells me is that he has not moved on!" Mr. Higurashi pushed himself up, leaning forward in desperation to get the manager of SPR to accept his proposal.

'_Naru's so heartless; he just won't take any case if nothing interests him,'_ Mai thought silently, a frown on her face.

"We'll take this case," Naru said bluntly, looking as stoic as ever.

"Eh?" The three men in the room turned to face Mai. "Ehehehe, sorry. Don't mind me," Mai laughed nervously under the glare of Naru. Naru continued to asked more questions about the case as Lin typed the conversation on his laptop.

When Mr. Higurashi got up to leave, Mai cleaned up the teacups and headed toward the kitchenette. _'I wonder why Naru took the case. I'm glad he took the case, but he normally doesn't take a case that does not have lives at risk.' _The college student turned on the water and observed the way the water ran in a white column. Instead of washing the teacups, Mai slowly reached out towards the running water and stuck her hand underneath the warming stream, feeling oddly comforted. Slowly, her eyes began to droop, '_It's so warm, so comforting. Just like…the…feather…'_

"Mai!"

Startled, Mai spun around and found herself facing her friend. "Aki! What are you doing here?"

Aki sighed, "Mai, you were spacing out again. What do you mean what am I doing here? Class just ended. Let's go grab Kari and eat lunch." Aki took off, running towards a brunette who was waving at the two girls.

"Aki! Wait up!" Mai ran after her friend and just as she was about to reach them, she tripped.

'Eh?' Mai's eyes widened as she began to fall in slow motion. She reached out to grab Kari's outstretched hand, only to find her friend replaced by a feather upon contact.  
The background swirled with the familiar darkness of her dream dimension and a strange cold swept over her. Mai felt a burning sensation in her hand right before she hit the floor.

"Mai!"

Mai's eyes flashed open and violently pushed her upper body up, taking a big gasp of air, as if coming out of a nightmare. An arm shot out and grabbed her burning hand and cool, steady eyes gazed into her own.

"Mai, snap out of it."

Mai's breathing slowed down and her eyes shrunk back to normal from their previous startled state. "Naru?" Mai shivered, suddenly feeling too weak to say anything else. She dropped her head and collapsed on the floor, attempting to curl up in order to seek warmth, missing the rare concerned glance her boss sent her. "I don't feel good. Can I go home?"

Naru felt her forehead with his free hand, the other occupied with her hand. "You have a fever. Running your hand under hot water won't warm you up." He frowned when he failed to get a retort from his female employee. In a very un-Naru-like fashion, he lifted Mai's head and placed it on his lap.

Lin appeared in the kitchen carrying a first aid kit and turned off the still running water before squatting down next to Naru and Mai. He gave Naru a questioning glance before turning his attention to Mai's hand. "She has a fever. We'll take her home since it's almost five." Lin nodded in response. Expertly, he slathered cooling gel on the reddened flesh before wrapping it in bandages. He mentally noted the sign of affection Naru unknowingly displayed while worrying about Mai's state of health.

"Prepare to leave, I'll give her a fever reducer" Naru directed when Lin tucked in the end of the bandage. "Mai, can you get up?" Naru gently shook his employee. Mai simply curled up tighter in response. Naru stood up and carried Mai over to the couch and laid her there before heading back to the kitchen for the pills and a glass of water.

Lin came out of his office and locked his door before heading towards Naru and taking the pills and water from his hands. Wordlessly, Naru gave up the items and entered his office.

"Miss Taniyama, I need you to swallow these pills," Lin helped the now flushed Mai up and eased the pills into her mouth. Mai groaned before taking a few sips of water and curling back into the couch.

"Lin, get her into the car, I'll take the laptop and files and lock up after I look at a few things. It won't be long," Naru directed.

"Naru!" Lin's protest was halted when he saw Mai's body tremble. "Mai, can you get up?" Once again, Mai did not reply. The tall Chinese man picked up the young woman bridal-styled. '_Naru should be the one carrying her,_' he thought as he wriggled the door open.

For the first time of the day, Mai did not dream of the feather but was trapped in the cold and suffocating vacuum of nothingness.

…to be continued.

Reviews would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

-Lady Light


End file.
